Halloween 2009

I know that I really late with this post, but I swear I am so exhausted that at this point I am proud of myself for getting it done.

Halloween day was extra busy due to the GA/FL game. My brother and Erica, along with my cousins came over to watch them game and I made some pregame goodies to snack on. By the time the game was over, the rest of my family was here to celebrate Halloween.

All of the boys were SUPER excited this year, since they actually understood they were going to get candy! We feasted on our traditional chili, rice, hot dogs and all the fixins'. By the time we ate dinner the boys were racing to get into their costumes and ready to get out the door. I didn't get eh best pictures this year since the weather was yucky, but it did clear off enough for us to hit a few houses.

Braden ran up to each house yelling, "Trick or Treat! Happy Halloween!" At one house the lady gave him a coupon for a frosty. After she put it in his bag, he kept standing there with his bag open staring at her. So I prompted him by saying, "What do you say Braden?" fully expecting him to say "Thank you." Instead he said, "I'd like some candy please!" It was priceless!

Getting together with my family at Halloween was a tradition that I treasured when I was little and I feel so blessed that we have been able to continue this tradition with my whole family as we have grown. I hope that Braden will enjoy the years to come as much I have in the past.

5 Little Pumpkins

Jesus Loves the Little Children

Parker's Baby Shower

Yesterday we celebrated Parker's arrival with a baby shower. My cousins, Amberly and Staci, gave me the baby shower and I am so thankful for all of the hard work, thoughtfulness, and special touches that they put into making it such a memorable day. One of my favorite things was a prayer box for Parker that Amberly made where everyone could write a special prayer for him. I will treasure that always.

Amberly and Staci- The Hostesses with Mostest

My Amazing Mommy and Me (Parker's Grrr)
My mom, Amberly, me, Erica, Staci, and my Aunt JoyBefore the shower- Braden really wanted to go with us! (Brad told him it was just going to be a bunch of crazy women, so he didn't need to go!)
My Granny (Parker's Gigi)

My Mother In Law (Parker's Grandma)

We got LOTS of great gifts for Baby Parker, including the MUCH wanted packs of diapers, wipes, baby wash, etc. I realize the second time around how awesome gifts like these are! We also got the cutest and sweetest little outfits for Parker. It was exciting to actually get clothes that weren't green and yellow, since that is what we mostly got at Braden's showers since we didn't find out if he was a boy or girl. I am really excited about getting them all washed and hung up in his closet ready for his arrival! My Granny, Braden and Parker's Gigi, got Parker a bedtime bear just like the one that she got for Braden (except Parker's is blue) before he was born.

The Bedtime Bear from Gigi

How many pieces of toilet paper does it take to fit around me?

We had so much delicious food! And you know I am ALL about the food right now! We had a Mexican feast and it was scrumptious! For dessert we had mini strawberry and chocolate cupcakes and they were awesome!

Pumpkin Patch

This past week has been awesome! Brad and I have enjoyed being able to spend so much time with Braden and we really wanted to end our week together by taking him to the Pumpkin Patch. Last year we took him to Southern Belle Farms in McDonough, GA and we were so impressed by how much there was to do and how well maintained their farm was that we wanted to take him back this year. This is a super busy week for us and this past Saturday was the only Saturday that we had open and I was a little nervous that it was going to rain, but the weather was beautiful (though much too hot for October).

Our friends, Chad and Lori, and their two children, Ethan and Emma went with us. Braden had a blast looking at all the pumpkins, enjoying the hay ride, watching the pig races, playing in the kiddie corral and corn, and riding the "race cars" with Brad. In the middle of our visit we stopped at the big pavilion that they have and had a picnic lunch. It was a wonderful day and we all had so much fun!

This family picture just makes me giggle!

Braden, Ethan and Emmawating on the pig races

playing in the corn...he had corn everywhere..in his shoes, behind his ear!

Parker's 3d Ultrasound

Tuesday we went for a visit to 3d Baby to get a 3d/4d ultrasound of Parker. We took Braden with us and he was less than impressed and poor Brad spent more time entertaining Braden than looking at Parker, but I enjoyed getting to see my littlest man in action.

We really wanted to do this for Parker since we had done the same thing for Braden when we were pregnant with him. There were A LOT of similarities between our visits with both Braden and Parker, apart from us doing both at 28 weeks. Both Braden and Parker were non cooperative about moving around- we call it just being stubborn and it's a family trait! They both also had their sweet little chubby hand covering their face for a good portion of the time! Braden was breech at 28 weeks and Parker currently is though I am not that concerned about it, since most babies turn by 40 weeks.

It was so special to see Parker and it made me even more excited about meeting him in December. By the way I had my appointment for my 1 hour glucose test on Thursday and it went well. While I was there I talked to Dr. Williams about my biggest fear- being in the hospital and away from Braden on Christmas Day (particularly Christmas morning). My preference is to go into labor after Christmas or be induced on Monday, Dec. 28 (my due date is Dec. 27), but he said that if I am a good candidate for induction (already dilating and thinning of my cervix) then he could induce me at 39 weeks, which would be Dec. 21, which would put me home by Christmas. So I at least feel better about these possibilities!

yawning- sleepy boy!

This picture looks identical to Braden's 3d picture!

Please- no more pictures mom!

Georgia Aquarium

My favorite picture from our visit!

I have been off work this week for Fall Break and Brad took a week of vacation to spend time with us, so we wanted to do something special with Braden. He hadn't been to the Georgia Aquarium yet, so we wanted him to get this experience.

We packed a lunch and ate in the back of the Explorer (I wanted to have a picnic at Centennial Olympic Park, but the rain and 57 degree temps ruined that idea!) before we headed in- Braden thought eating in the back of the car was super exciting! After we got inside we stopped a the tropical fish first and Braden loved looking at the jelly fish and "Nemo". He was content as long as there wasn't a big crowd and he could get pretty close up- he's 2 so we couldn't expect him to be wowed by everything! He also liked sticking his hand in touch pools- especially the touch pool with the sting rays and sharks! Brad stayed away from those after his sting ray "experience" this summer (his scar is just now starting to go away)!

I love Brad's super serious face- check out the size of that sting ray!

After a little over 2 hours we visited everything we wanted to see (except the beluga whales that were put away due to construction) and we headed home. When got to the parking deck to leave, Braden refused to get in the car. We couldn't figure out what the heck had gotten into him, but we finally figured out that he didn't want to leave. He kept asking to go back to the Aquarium. Luckily Brad got tons of footage on his video recorder and we played it for Braden when we got home. I'm really glad he enjoyed his first trip to the Aquarium.

He had just gotten splashed by a sting ray in the touch pool!

Cohen's Birthday

This past Saturday we celebrated my cousin's son's birthday! It is really neat because my Granny had 4 great grandsons born in a 4 month period (Justin had Cohen (Oct.), Derick had Jackson (Nov.), Shane had Ace (Dec.), and I had Braden (Jan.)) and Cohen is the oldest of the 4.

His birthday party was lots of fun! There was a huge jumper, popcorn, a pinata and of course cake! Braden had such a blast!

Happy Birthday Cohen! We love you!

The birthday boy!

Gage & Ace

Braden & Cohen

Cohen getting the upper hand on the pinata!

Braden, Gage & Ace worn out from the bouncer!

Punkinpan

Punkinpan is what Braden calls pumpkins. We're not sure why he calls them this, but he is pumpkin obsessed right now. We have a few pumpkins in different areas of our house, including his bedroom, and we put one outside on our front porch and he is constantly wanting to turn them on and look at them. It is so cute becasue he keeps saying, "I want to look at the punkinpan mommy." Just precious!

When he first saw it lit up on the front porch he sat and stared at it for a little while. How sweet!

Braden likes to make his "silly face just like the punkinpan's silly face"

kissing his punkinpan